A BOLTON construction firm has pledged to raise £175,000 toward a new £26m state-of-the-art cancer centre.

Seddon is aiming to sell nearly 700 homes nationwide to raise the incredible sum for The Christie charity, donating £250 for each sale.

The family-run business has a strong connection to the charity, with two family members receiving treatment in recent years at the specialist cancer hospital.

The late Christopher Seddon MBE was treated at The Christie for lung cancer from 2013 to 2015. In 2019, his daughter, Nicola, was diagnosed with breast cancer and started treatment there.

Nicola began her treatment at The Christie in February 2019, and over a seven-month period underwent chemotherapy and targeted therapy, followed by surgery and further radiotherapy. In September that same year, she was declared cancer-free.

Seddon has been supporting the charity for 25 years and has chosen to do so once again for the new Christie at Macclesfield cancer centre.

Nicola Hodkinson, director at Seddon and former Christie patient, said: “We all know about The Christie and the amazing work it has done over the past 120 years with its research and the individual care it offers, but you really only get a sense of The Christie when you walk through the front door.

“It is not a normal hospital; it doesn’t feel or smell like one. It’s unique and that uniqueness comes from its values and The Christie teams who dedicate every day to making a patient’s cancer a bit more bearable, which is sadly something I’ve experienced first-hand.

“The Christie is about life and hope, and if this could be bottled there would be no cancer.”

The Christie at Macclesfield will provide care closer to home for more than 1,500 existing Christie patients a year.

It will bring together essential cancer services into one purpose-built centre delivering local specialist access a range of services. Around 40,000 appointments per year will take place at the new centre.

The fundraising drive will run until the end of 2022, raising vital donations for the new centre, which is due to open at the end of this year.

Marie Toller, head of major relationships at The Christie charity, said: “We are thrilled at this latest pledge of support from Seddon which is a much respected and longstanding supporter of our charity.

“It is through partnerships like this that we can bring the vision of a new cancer centre in Macclesfield to reality. It is an extremely generous pledge from Seddon which is very much appreciated and will directly improve services for a huge number of patients for many years to come.”